After receiving a sizable contract extension shortly after the season began, Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler yielded a disappointing slash line of .256/.326/.423, along with a bWAR of 2.1 in 2012. Based on the above average production Kinsler produced in previous years, which led to him earning the extension, fans and pundits expected more out of Kinsler. Kinsler’s cavalier body language and slumped shoulders after pop outs only exacerbated the angst among the masses last season.

Kinsler was not much better in the field as he generated a negative UZR for the first time since 2008. During the offseason, there was speculation Kinsler might be moved to first base to make room for mega prospect Jurickson Profar at second base. Kinsler felt he was more valuable to the club at second base, and after the team signed Lance Berkman to be the primary designated hitter in January, Kinsler’s spot in the middle of the diamond was safe for the time being.

The Rangers hired renowned former Boston Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan in the offseason with aspirations Magadan would be able to improve the approach and mechanics of Ranger hitters, including Kinsler. So far, the results have been outstanding with Kinsler as he has produced a slash line of .324/.387/.544 with 7 home runs and a wRC+ of 149 in 2013.

Kinsler has played at an elite, MVP level the first six weeks of ’12. The biggest difference so far in Kinsler’s game has been his approach at the plate. According to PITCHf/x, Kinsler is swinging at fewer pitches as his O-Swing, Z-Swing, and Swing percentages are all lower than they were in ’12. I realize we are looking at a small sample size here, but early season plate discipline numbers are typically trends which last the rest of the season. When Kinsler does swing at pitches outside of the strike zone, he is making contact with 80.3 percent of them, a substantial increase from the 71.5 O-Contact percentage Kinsler yielded in ’12.

Kinsler’s early season success can also be attributed to the fact he has destroyed right handed pitching, something he has not done historically. The Rangers second baseman has yielded an outstanding slash line of .348/.414/.652 against right handed pitching in ’13, while his career line is .262/.340/.440 against north paws. The .652 slugging percentage is second in all of baseball behind only Shin-soo Choo’s .739. One can expect Kins’ numbers against righties to regress towards his career average, but his ability to hit to right handed pitching early on in the year is an encouraging sign.

Kinsler is winning battles.

The headline might be somewhat perplexing, but it will make sense in a moment. Many fans and writers are cynical of the WAR (wins above replacement) statistic because many misinterpret what the meaning is. For example, baseball writer Jon Heyman tweeted a couple of weeks ago his disbelief that phenomenal second year outfielder Bryce Harper had the same WAR as Pittsburgh outfielder Starling Marte. The number is not meant to represent how a player with a 5 WAR is better than a player with a 4 WAR. Rather, the WAR statistic represents the overall value the player provides for his team, and while Harper is a fantastic player, Marte and his superior defensive skills had supplied the same amount of wins for his team as Harper at that time.

Now that I have explained WAR for the baseball illiterate who refuses to accept the statistic’s validity, or the fact the earth is round, I will mention Kinsler is currently second in MLB among position players with 2.2 bWAR, behind only Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez’s 2.8. To put Kinsler’s stellar play into perspective, he has already surpassed the bWAR of 2.1 from last season. Quite simply, Kinsler has been the most valuable player to the Rangers. While Profar is probably ready to contribute at the big league level right now, there is little chance he would be producing the way Kinsler is from the second base position.

While Kinsler’ nonchalant demeanor in the batter’s box and in the field can indeed be vexing, I hope many realize how great he has played up to this point. Kinsler still does have the propensity to pop out rather often. However, if he continues to play at the level he currently is, he will not only be a bargain at the $13 million dollars he is being paid in ’13, but he also will be in MVP consideration at season’s end and helping lead the Rangers to a third American League West crown in four years.

For an infinite amount of baseball wisdom, follow me on Twitter @DustinDietz18 , or email me at ddietz2004@yahoo.com

Despite earning a spot on the 2011 American League All-Star team, and having a successful first year as a starting pitcher, the Texas Rangers moved Alexi Ogando back to the bullpen in 2012 to fill the position of seventh inning set-up man. Ogando pitched well the first couple of months of the ’12 season out of the pen, and when the club was decimated with injuries to the starting rotation in early June, Ogando started a game against the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants. After pitching three perfect innings to begin the game, Ogando suffered a strained right groin while beating out a bunt hit in the top of the fourth inning and was placed on the disabled list shortly afterward. Ogando missed a few weeks and pitched exclusively out of the bullpen the rest of the year.

During the offseason, the Rangers decided to move Ogando back into the starting rotation in 2013, where he is currently projected to be the club’s fourth starter. Many have expressed concern over Ogando’s propensity to wear down in the second half of the season, and his inability to develop an effective third pitch.

Since some have expressed concern in regards to Alexi Ogando, I decided to compare Ogando’s numbers to other projected fourth starters on American League teams perceived to be pennant contenders in 2013. I think the results might be somewhat surprising, and since Ogando is believed to be a pitcher who physically breaks down in the second half of the season, I made the decision to compare both the first and second halves of the pitcher’s seasons.

Note: Brett Anderson, Gavin Floyd, and Jason Hammel are projected to be their team’s third starter. I decided to use them in this particular study because the A’s, White Sox, and Orioles projected fourth starters in 2013 were all rookies last season, which is a very small sample size. I decided to only use players with more than one season of Major League experience. Also, I decided to include the Mariners because they are a division rival. Sorry Astros fans, you did not make the cut.

1st Half

Pitcher

Team

IP

ERA

AVG

OBP

SLG

Alexi Ogando

Rangers

155

2.50

.198

.253

.304

Jason Vargas

Angels

468.1

4.09

.248

.306

.410

Brett Anderson

A’s

201.1

4.02

.263

.322

.396

Blake Beaven

Mariners

75.2

5.23

.278

.322

.490

Phil Hughes

Yankees

301.2

4.65

.259

.321

.435

Brandon Morrow

Blue Jays

374.1

4.11

.230

.325

.368

Gavin Floyd

White Sox

627.1

4.81

.252

.326

.425

Doug Fister

Tigers

270.1

3.46

.256

.303

.378

Alex Cobb

Rays

86

4.40

.252

.320

.366

Jason Hammel

Orioles

474.1

4.29

.266

.333

.411

Felix Doubront

Red Sox

109.1

4.45

.259

.333

.450

K/9

BB/9

HR/9

WHIP

BABIP

FIP

7.20

2.03

0.75

0.95

.230

3.35

5.84

2.67

1.21

1.26

.267

4.47

6.57

2.41

0.94

1.31

.300

3.93

4.16

1.55

1.67

1.31

.277

5.36

7.82

2.83

1.28

1.33

.300

4.26

9.64

4.35

0.79

1.35

.298

3.66

6.71

3.30

1.22

1.35

.281

4.61

5.53

1.90

0.67

1.20

.288

3.56

6.17

2.93

0.42

1.31

.296

3.46

6.55

3.11

0.93

1.40

.304

4.09

8.48

3.54

1.32

1.42

.306

4.40

While Ogando has thrown less innings than many of the pitchers on the list, his numbers are much better in many categories on the chart, including ERA, OBP, SLG, BABIP, and is the only pitcher on the list with a WHIP under 1.00. When one averaged out the ten pitchers’ numbers other than Ogando on the chart, Ogando’s numbers were superior. Alexi’s first half statistics are better than many top of the rotation pitchers in baseball, including Stephen Strasburg, who is an interesting first half comparison to Ogando if one is so inclined to compare the two.

Alexi’s first half numbers will probably head towards the direction of the mean as he piles up more innings in his career, but at this current juncture, he is one of the better first half fourth starters in the American League. One might think this distinction is rather dubious, but if Ogando is able to come close to duplicating his previous success in the first half of 2013, the Rangers would not have to rush Colby Lewis or Martin Perez back from injury, and trading or signing a 5th starter would not really be that necessary.

2nd Half

Pitcher

Team

IP

ERA

AVG

OBP

SLG

Alexi Ogando

Rangers

121.2

3.92

.247

.314

.398

Jason Vargas

Angels

361.1

4.68

.263

.325

.438

Brett Anderson

A’s

204.2

3.12

.252

.299

.353

Blake Beaven

Mariners

173.2

3.99

.276

.309

.459

Phil Hughes

Yankees

333.1

4.16

.241

.304

.407

Brandon Morrow

Blue Jays

273.2

4.08

.225

.314

.384

Gavin Floyd

White Sox

499.2

4.03

.261

.324

.413

Doug Fister

Tigers

339.2

3.50

.249

.292

.378

Alex Cobb

Rays

103

3.41

.244

.314

.362

Jason Hammel

Orioles

375.2

5.39

.283

.350

.461

Felix Doubront

Red Sox

87

5.38

.261

.353

.437

K/9

BB/9

HR/9

WHIP

BABIP

FIP

7.92

3.03

1.04

1.30

.292

3.88

5.63

2.89

1.12

1.37

.286

4.49

7.21

1.98

0.62

1.19

.302

3.14

3.83

1.35

1.14

1.23

.283

4.41

7.37

2.92

1.22

1.25

.274

4.26

9.60

4.05

1.12

1.30

.280

4.03

7.38

2.67

1.10

1.31

.302

4.11

6.52

1.70

0.79

1.16

.286

3.47

7.34

2.88

0.87

1.23

.289

3.82

6.61

3.14

1.10

1.49

.321

4.40

9.62

4.76

1.24

1.55

.326

4.40

After inspecting the second half statistics, one will notice Ogando’s numbers do begin to move in the wrong direction. So, the theory Ogando begins to tire in the second half does have some credence, but his overall numbers are still very respectable as his ERA is still slightly under 4.00 and he possess the fourth lowest FIP among the pitchers included on this particular chart. When one again averages the ten other pitchers’ numbers and compares the averages to Ogando’s numbers, the only statistic Alexi is worse in is BB/9. Ogando must improve his control in the second half as he walks more than one batter per nine innings more than he does in the first half of the season.

Ogando has not gotten off to a very splendid start in spring training as his ERA is 8.10 in just 3 1/3 innings pitched, but Alexi is working on adding a changeup to expand his limited repertoire, and while his fastball velocity is down, fans should not have anxiety over the slow start because spring training is glorified practice. Plus, when compared to other fourth starters (and third starters) among competitors in the American League, Ogando has actually been better.

The decrease in Ogando’s velocity early in spring training should not be disconcerting because a drop is quite common with pitchers developing another pitch in the spring. Case in point, Tampa Bay Rays flame thrower Jake McGee. McGee averaged 95.7 MPH on his fastball last season (Ogando averaged 96.8), but the speed of his fastball has decreased some early in the spring. However, McGee is experimenting with a changeup and is trying to develop a slider. McGee has already stated he is building up his endurance, and does not want to “waste his bullets.” I have read speculation Alexi might be injured, but he is probably ensuring he is in great shape and ready to pitch well for an entire season.

The Rangers starting rotation is a little deeper than many believe it is, and as previously mentioned, the team might not have to sign a pitcher such as Kyle Lohse, or trade for a Rick Porcello despite the loss of the previously leading candidate for the 5th starter, Martin Perez. If Ogando is able to pitch well the entire season as a fourth starter, the Rangers should be very successful in 2013.

Texas Rangers Fan Fest will be held this weekend to pay reverence to the wonderful and supportive Rangers fan base. Many of our favorite current Ranger players will be signing autographs and some fans will even have the prerogative of being able to meet a few of them. I am certain the fans which are fortunate enough to shoot the breeze with the ballplayers will be quite excited. Who would not want to chat with heroes on the diamond such as Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler, and Craig Gentry? However, what if former Ranger great Kevin Reimer was in attendance and signing autographs? Would you as a Ranger fan be able to recognize him?

We have all played the game with our friends where we say an obscure former Ranger great’s name to elicit laughter, or compared a buddy to Butch Davis because he dropped an easy can of corn during practice one afternoon. Due to the many years of incredibly poor baseball, the Rangers have many players one can use for comedic purposes.

So, to pay homage to the forgotten former Ranger greats, I compiled a list of the all-time most obscure former Ranger players. This is not a list of worst players to wear a Rangers uniform (Well, these players were admittedly bad here). Rather, this is a list of former Rangers so irrelevant and lapsed, fans would be unable to recognize him if he or she was standing directly next to him at Fan Fest.

Enjoy Fan Fest, and remember to savor every bit of success the franchise is experiencing. Things have been, and could be much worse.

Catcher – Einar Diaz

Diaz was blessed with having the honor of replacing future hall of fame catcher Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez in 2003 after the front office decided the 31 year old catcher was not worth resigning due to the fact they felt Pudge would begin declining. Diaz did not exactly perform at a level which made fans forget Pudge. Einar’s line of .257/.294/.341/.635 was well below Pudge’s line of .297/.369/.474/.843 in ‘03, and Pudge also was a key contributor to the Marlins 2003 World Series victory over the New York Yankees.

First Base – Ben Broussard

Broussard had been an average player for six seasons before being traded to the Rangers in December of 2007 as the Rangers tried to fill a gaping hole at first base. Broussard was an utter disaster as he yielded a line of .159/.225/.268/.493 with an OPS+ of 30. He was released after playing only 26 games on May 16th, 2008 and never played another game in the majors. Broussard is known mainly for his musical dexterity and the fact the Mariners traded Shin-Soo Choo for him. Something else I found ironic was to compare Broussard’s age 26 season to Mitch Moreland’s.

Second Base – Wayne Tolleson

Tolleson played with the Rangers before I gained sports consciousness. So, I remember absolutely nothing about him. However, how incredibly spare must he have played based on the fact he played five seasons with Texas (1981-1985) and no fan ever mentions him today. If one looks at his .251/.305/.301/.607 line while averaging one home run and 10 RBIs per season, I assume that is the reason he is never discussed. Tolleson later played for the New York Yankees where he became the second to last player to wear the number 2 before Derek Jeter began donning the now sacred number.

Shortstop – Jeff Kunkel

Kunkel was the Rangers first pick (3rd overall) in the 1983 amateur draft, and to say he did not quite live up to expectations is actually a huge understatement. Kunkel might have liked his gig as a major leaguer, but the Rangers wished he had never a job (Ticket humor). How I remember Jeff Kunkel is a certain former high school teammate of mine would refer to you as Jeff Kunkel if you missed a ground ball during practice. Ranger fans might remember the Kunkelnator for his average of 2 HRs, 10 RBIs, and 1 stolen base per season over seven years.

Third Base – Mike Pagliarulo

Dean Palmer’s season ending arm injury in early 1995 forced Pags into full time duty at third base. Pagliarulo’s 6 errors in 86 games were not horrendous, but his bWAR of -0.1 and OPS+ of 60 certainly were. Pagliarulo actually led the New York Yankees in 1987 with 32 home runs, ahead of players such as Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield. Pags four bombs in 86 games in 1995 were tied with the potent basher Jeff Frye, and were also five less than Palmer’s nine in 36 games before he was injured.

Left Field – Monty Fariss

Fariss was the 6th pick overall in the 1988 amateur draft out of Oklahoma State. I vaguely remember seeing much of Fariss in the field, but I do recall my cousin attempting to convince me Fariss would become a superstar after I pulled a Fariss rookie card in a pack of 1991 Score. Fariss lasted two seasons in Texas after generating a line of .223/.314/.335/.649. The Marlins decided to select Fariss in the 1992 expansion draft, and he continued to underwhelm in Florida’s first year in 1993. Fariss’ career was over in 1993, and the statistic I find incredulous about his three seasons in the majors was he did not steal one base in his career.

Center Field – Donald Harris

Harris was the Rangers first round pick (5th overall) in 1989 out of Texas Tech, which meant in a seven year span, the club drafted Jeff Kunkel, Monty Fariss, and Donald Harris in the top ten of the amateur draft. Harris was a failure in every phase of the game. He committed four errors in only 90 chances in the outfield, stole only two bases, hit .205, and had an OPS+ of 47 in three seasons. To put Harris career 2 HRs and 11 RBIs in 82 career games into perspective, Hard-Hittin’ Mark Whiten of the St. Louis Cardinals once hit 4 HRs and drove in 12 runs in one game.

Right Field – Chris James

James’ brother Craig became the more well-known athlete in their family, but Chris did yield a decent line of .274/.370/.561/.931 with an OPS+ of 140 during his short two year tenure in Texas. However, the only thing more affable than Chris’s 10 year playing career in the major leagues was his brother’s senatorial campaign last season. Kudos to you if you remember one at bat during James time in Texas. Chris made his major league debut on my third birthday. So, he has that claim to fame should he decide to use it.

Designated Hitter – Brad Fullmer

Fullmer put together a decent career in Canada with the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays before being traded to the Anaheim Angels before the 2002 season. Fullmer would contribute to an Angels World Series victory in 2002, but injuries would derail his career afterward. After playing only 63 games in 2003 with the Halos, the Rangers signed him in December ’03 hoping he would recover. He didn’t, and after going 0 for his last 15 on July 24th, Fullmer was placed on the disabled list, and he never played again. Fullmer’s line of .233/.310/.442/.752 in 76 games in ’04 did not exactly make the Rangers hurry him back from injury during the unexpected pennant chase.

Position player honorable mentions – Benji Gil and Brian Jordan

Starting pitcher – Rob Bell

Bell’s Ranger career should be remembered for two reasons. One, he was the only pitcher during his time in Texas to wear a number in the single digits (He would later change his number from 6 to 30). And, two, the Rangers traded former untouchable prospect Ruben Mateo and some other player named Edwin Encarnacion to acquire him. What Bell should not be remembered for is his putrid ERA of 6.73, WHIP of 1.630, and his horrendous 11.0 H/9 while with Texas.

Starting pitcher honorable mention – Pedro Astacio

Relief pitcher – Reggie Cleveland

Cleveland was the Rangers closer in 1978, but is mainly forgotten based on the fact the following year his replacement Jim Kern was voted as the American League’s top reliever. Cleveland did lead the club with 12 saves. However, nine other Ranger pitchers recorded saves in 1978, with reliever Danny Darwin being the only reliever not to actually record one. Cleveland did have a decent ERA of 3.09, and solid WHIP of 1.163 in 1978, but few remember he even played in Texas. An amazing number I found in regards to the 1978 team was the fact they pitched 54 complete games, 4 by relief pitchers. The Rangers had only 7 complete games by pitchers in 2012. One other note on Reggie Cleveland, noted sportswriter Bill Simmons came up with a list titled “The Reggie Cleveland All-Stars.” The list is based on athletes who appear nothing like what their name suggests they look like. If you say you were able to use the context clues, and come to the conclusion Reggie Cleveland was a Caucasian man with shaggy hair and glasses, I know you are not being truthful.

The 2012 Texas Rangers season came to an abrupt, and disappointing end on Friday night as the club lost the first annual one game Wild Card playoff at home to the Baltimore Orioles 5-1.

To say the club struggled down the stretch is quite the understatement as they finished the season 2-8 in their final 10 games, including losing a 5 game division lead over the Oakland A’s with 9 games left to play. After winning the second game of a double header last Sunday night over the Los Angeles Angels, the Rangers lost their final four games of the season by a combined score of 24-10. The team went into an extended cold slump at the absolute worst possible time.

How did this team many picked to win the World Series wet the bed in the home stretch? Well, one can argue it was due to a variety of factors. The club quite simply stopped getting the clutch hits the A’s got seemingly every day towards the end of the regular season. Mainly, the Rangers just looked completely mentally and physically exhausted towards the end of the year.

Playing as much baseball as this team has played the last three years can take their toll on the body. Remember, the Rangers played six postseason series the last two years, three more than any other team in baseball. I expect Texas to recover and continue to compete in the American League West, but nothing is guaranteed in the great game of baseball.

Jon Daniels and the front office are faced with some very important personnel decisions in the next few months, none more important than what to do with the enigmatic superstar Josh Hamilton.

Despite Josh Hamilton’s late season struggles, some team will pay Josh Hamilton an exorbitant amount of money to play baseball for them next season. While many Ranger fans feel signing Josh is foolish after he dropped a can of corn in a crucial situation in a do or die game against the Oakland A’s last week, or the fact Hamilton struck out 162 times this season, or the fact Hamilton hit .233 in the final ten games, Josh did produce monster numbers during his tenure in Texas.

According to MLB baseball writer Jon Heyman, he believes Hamilton will sign a contract in the neighborhood of 5 years for $150 million dollars. If Hamilton signs a contract similar to the one Heyman suggested, Hamilton would earn the highest annual salary in Major League Baseball at $30 million dollars per season.

Reading about what will soon become baseball’s newest $100 million player got me to thinking about the history of the $100 million dollar player in baseball (The list is quite fascinating). Would signing Josh Hamilton to a $100 million dollar plus deal be a wise decision for not only the Rangers, but any other MLB team? I decided to do a little research, and I think the results may be a little surprising.

Keep in mind, I realize Josh has rubbed many the wrong way in this area towards the end of his time here.

There have been 34 $100 million dollar contracts signed in the history of baseball. Many fans have probably forgotten the first player to ever sign a $100 million dollar contract was former Ranger great Kevin Brown in 1999 when he signed a 7 year $105 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the 1999 season.

The Rangers have signed one player to a contract exceeding $100 million, and that was Alex Rodriguez back in December of 2000 for a then astronomical 10 year deal totaling $252 million dollars. While Rodriguez played exceptionally during his time in Texas, the club faltered because A-Rod had little talent around him and was traded to the Yankees shortly after winning the AL MVP in 2003.

The average age of the player to sign these mega deals is 28.3. Out of the 34 players to have signed $100 million dollar contracts, only 11 of them have been over the age of 30 at the time they signed their new lucrative contract. 8 of the 11 were position players, and since Josh Hamilton is a position player who will be 31 this offseason when he signs his new deal, I decided to focus solely on these 8 players and crunch their numbers to determine if signing Josh makes sense fiscally.

Here is the list of position players to have signed a $100 million dollar contract over the age of 30:

The first thing I have done is I have averaged each of these eight players final season before they were given their huge pay days, and have compared them to Josh Hamilton’s 2012. By doing this study, we can determine if Josh will receive a similar payday, and it should help predict what type of production we can expect from Josh in the future based on his age. If you want to check out each player’s season for yourself, I am sure you are cognizant of the sites to help you do that. I am just simply providing the averages.

As one can tell, these players produced huge seasons as these numbers are just the averages between the 8 players. In 2007, A-Rod led the league in 5 major offensive categories and won AL MVP. Jason Giambi led the AL in 3 offensive categories, including an incredible 1.137 OPS in 2001. Ryan Howard knocked in 141 runs in 2009 before signing his extension the following April. Now, let’s look at what Hamilton did this year and compare the numbers to the 8 players.

As one again can easily determine, Josh’s 2012 numbers are very similar to the other final seasons. What does this mean? Well, if Josh’s numbers are similar to the average final seasons of the 8 $100 million dollar players over the age of 30, one is led to believe Josh will produce similar numbers beginning in the first year of his new deal and beyond. Just to be sure, I thought I would perform another test. Since Albert Pujols was the most recent player to sign a $100 million dollar deal, I decided to average the first years of the 7 other $100 million dollar player’s contracts, and compare them to Pujols to find out if the numbers also look similar.

The most eye opening thing one will notice is the decline in all major offensive categories. Jayson Werth’s 2011 season with Washington skewed these numbers slightly, but Giambi and Griffey pushed them up as they were the only players to hit more than 40 HR. Carlos Lee was the only player to appear in all 162 games for his team in the first year of his $100 million dollar contract., which is also the only 162 game season of any player who has ever signed a $100 million dollar contract over the age of 30. And, with Josh Hamilton’s well known inability to stay healthy, he will more than likely play less games than many of these other players who did not have health issues before signing their enormous contracts. Now, let’s compare the numbers to Pujols 1st year.

Again, the numbers are very similar. Based on the similar numbers, I believe we have enough statistical evidence to more or less provide ball park figures of what one can expect from Josh next season, and beyond, wherever he, his wife, and God decide is the best place to play baseball for the next five years.

I will now provide what type of production a team can expect out of Josh Hamilton if they were to sign him to a 5 year $150 million dollar contract which Jon Heyman believes he will sign. Again, all I did was average the 7 player’s years, not including Pujols, by very simply adding up the total amount, and dividing the total by the number of players. Werth drops off in Year 3 from the equation, and Howard drops off in Year 4 because each has not played in that particular year of his contract yet. Year 1 was already provided.

The numbers are continuing to decline as the players are beginning to experience injury problems because they are aging. Only 4 of the 7 players played more than 125 games in his second season of his deal. The rWAR has dropped 3 wins in two years.

The third year is the worst statistical year as three of the players (Griffey, Soriano, and Giambi) all finish with negative rWARs. Lee played 160 games, but the next most in games played is Rodriguez with 137. Batting average, OBP, Slugging, and OPS has fallen for the third straight year.

The numbers improve slightly, but not by very much. Lee actually had a rWAR of -2.4 in his 4th year of his deal. Michael Young was everyone’s favorite whipping boy this year, and even he had 38 XBH’s in his horrendous 2012.

Yes, this would be the average season one team is paying $30 million dollars a year if they choose to pony up the money and sign Josh. While these numbers are not exact, they give a good prediction of what is probable.

The most shocking number is a total of 9.6 total rWAR in 5 seasons. Meaning, if a team paid Josh Hamilton $150 million dollars over 5 seasons, the team would be paying $15,625,000 per win. Fans admire Josh for his incredible power, but only Jason Giambi averaged 30 home runs per season through the life of his contract. Chances are greater than zero that Josh would not hit as many home runs as he did in Texas.

Also, with Josh already being well known for his injury problems, including his caffeine issue in late September, signing Josh to a massive contract might not be wise based on the injury problems of the previous 30+ year old $100 million dollar players.

The numbers I have provided are only numbers, but they do speak of what Hamilton will more than likely become later in his career because the numbers I have provided are what the players averaged during their expensive contracts. Essentially, the deal will be for one highly productive first season, two mediocre seasons, and two very disappointing seasons. Signing players to a long term deal for one to three decent seasons is just not wise, just ask the Los Angeles Angels.

I am sure Jon Daniels, Nolan Ryan, and the front office has done their due diligence in relations to the Josh Hamilton matter. However, based on past history, signing Josh Hamilton to a $100 million dollar deal would be a colossal mistake.

The safer and more intelligent move is to pursue a player like B.J. Upton who just turned 28, and is believed by Jon Heyman to be signed to a deal in the ballpark of 5 years and $60 million dollars. Upton is three years younger than Hamilton, strikes out a lot and has a lower OPS, but will cost $18 million dollars a year less that Hamilton will. Players such as Nick Swisher and AJ Pierzynski will also be available to fill the LH power bat void. Swisher can also hit from the right side of the plate as well. The Rangers could even use the extra money on a top of the rotation pitcher like Zack Greinke, or a solid #2 or #3 starter like Hiroki Kuroda.

While we do not know what will become of Josh Hamilton and the Rangers, one thing is certain, and that is the Hot Stove League is one of the most entertaining times of the year. The 2012 season might have ended in disappointing fashion for the Rangers, but things can turn around quickly with a great offseason. Fans should have complete faith in the organization based on their excellent track record that they will make the best decision for Texas Rangers in regards to Josh, and other players.

The last time I produced an article for BaseballDo, I received unexpected acclaim and notoriety from a couple of local sports radio talk shows which I have admired for many years. To hear my name had been associated with decent writing was pretty surreal based on my past failures in freshman and sophomore English at Bryan Adams High School.

I received instant popularity and credibility throughout social media as I gained at least 10 new followers the first day. You might think I am being sarcastic, but 10 new followers in a day for me is something which does not occur very often, even on Follow Fridays.

In all honesty, I really do not feel I did spectacular work on my article in regards to Michael Young’s struggles so far in 2012. I felt as if I was just providing the reader with information any person could have found on the internet late at night when one is unable to sleep. I am still very grateful for all the kind words though.

Well, my last article might have gained me some baseball writing credibility, but with this piece, I might be losing every bit of the cred I might have earned.

One popular phrase or moniker for a certain type of individual in today’s society is douchebag. We all are cognizant of what a douchebag, or doucher for short, really is. Douchebags tend to walk around with this arrogant, pompous sense of entitlement like they are better than you.

The clothes douchebags wear are more than annoying. There are the button-up shirts with crosses stitched on the back, Ed Hardy tees, and blue jeans with dragons printed on them. Douchers even style their hair a certain way.

The most vexatious (thank you Google)trait douchers have is the tendency to brag incessantly about their accomplishments, possessions, or jobs where they make an infinite amount of money more than you do . Douchers will even begin to speak about themselves before one even touches the subject. Yes, humility is not in the cards for the doucher.

Being a douchebag can be advantageous as I have noticed women tend to flock towards the doucher, and also the D-bag tends to have a chiseled physique resembling a Greek God, while we are left to look like Al Bundy in the later years of Married with Children.

The term douchebag has also found its way over into the sports world, in particular, the great game of baseball. For some odd reason, some select baseball players have earned a reputation of being a douchebag, despite the fact many of the fans referring to the player as a doucher do not even know the player personally.

I cannot tell you how often I hear a player is awful because he is a douchebag. Recently, I was engaged in an argument over New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher and whether or not the Texas Rangers should pursue him this offseason when Swisher becomes a free-agent. I asked another writer on Twitter what he thought about pursuing Swish. He responded, and I am paraphrasing, he would be surprised if the team did not try to sign the soon to be free agent.

Immediately, I received all kinds of tweets from fans about what a douche Swisher is, and how he would have this pernicious effect on the clubhouse. My response to these tweets I received was Swisher has produced above average numbers since becoming a Yankee as he has yielded an OPS over .800 4 straight seasons, and is on pace to have a career high in extra base hits in 2012. Well, none of that mattered because many still believed Swisher sucks because he smiles a certain way, or walks to the plate with an overly arrogant stroll with his sunglasses a certain color.

The most controversial perceived douchebag in DFW is former Rangers pitcher CJ Wilson, who now plays for the Los Angeles Angels. As the Rangers ‘ace’ heading into the 2011 postseason, Wilson struggled the entire playoffs and the Rangers lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games, a game in which Wilson hit the first batter he faced with the bases loaded in the 5th inning.

When CJ signed with the Angels, many were upset with him (myself included) despite the fact he pitched wonderfully as a starter in two seasons while in Texas. Wilson compiled a 31-15 record with an ERA slightly above 3.00 and a WHIP close to 1.20. Ceej gave the Rangers over 420 innings pitched in two seasons, and earned the contract he was given by LA.

Fans are still upset with Wilson for leaving the Rangers to go play with their main rival as they have booed Ceej relentlessly all three times he has pitched in Arlington this season. Fans are angry about last postseason, but most are still annoyed by Wilson’s douchebag like behavior he exhibited while in town. His knife fighting, piloting, and DJing skills are just too much for people in DFW to handle. My belief is the CJ hatred is simply in regards to his incessant boasting, and bragging montages.

While the fans should be showing Wilson appreciation for his years of service in Texas, they boo him because they think he is a douchebag, and they do not even know him personally. Much of what Ceej says can make one roll his or her eyes, but off the field stuff should not matter as long as he produces on the field.

All of this unwarranted douchebag hatred and bashing got me to thinking, “What if all of the perceived MLB douchebags were on one team? How would the team fair against other competition?”

So, I began my research by finding out who in MLB is considered a douchebag by simply asking fans on Twitter. I received a few obvious answers, but had to search the world wide web for a few others. I was even tweeted a picture of the All-Douchebag team someone had taken their time to construct.

After about an hour of research, I had compiled my team of MLB douchebags. I even gave them the moniker ‘Arizona D-Bags,’ using a funny play on words. Without further ado, here is my team of D-Bags based solely on reputation according to baseball fans.

Yes, I realize I have a 26 man roster, but this is a team full of perceived douchers, someone will get injured. Also, I added Robbie Ross and Ryan Theriot to the team because the team needed a left-handed reliever and utility infielder. While Ross and Theriot do not seem like douchebags, one never knows.

My experiment included using the player’s current statistics from 2012, and finding out how the overall combined statistics stack up against other current major league teams.

What I first wanted to do was appease the traditionalist and see how the basic offensive numbers compared to other MLB teams. The 13 D-bag hitters have combined to hit 224 home runs so far as of September 2nd, that would rank 1st in MLB. The Yankees would be 2nd with 202.

Then, every traditionalists’ favorite statistic, batting average. The D-Bags are hitting a mediocre .267 so far in 2012. However, the .267 batting average would rank 7th in MLB.

Next, I thought I would compare the advanced offensive numbers because those are the numbers sabermetricians will tell you matter. The D-Bags OBP is .340, tied for 1st in MLB. They’re slugging .457 as a team, and have a collective .797 OPS, both 1st in MLB. When one adds up the runs all of the D-Bags have scored, one will find out the D-Bags have scored 758 runs between 13 offensive players, also 1st in MLB.

As one can tell, douchebags can apparently hit the baseball as they are 1st in MLB in 5 of the 6 major offensive categories. But, can the douchebags pitch and play defense?

Again, I will begin with the baseball traditionalist favorite pitching statistic, the W-L record. The D-Bags starting rotation is a combined 64-33 so far, the 33 losses would be the lowest in MLB.

Now, let’s go to the traditionalists’ next favorite pitching statistic, ERA. The entire D-Bags’ rotation, bullpen included, possesses a 3.24 ERA, which would be the lowest in MLB.

The D-Bags have combined to strike out 1,141 hitters so far, which would be 2nd in MLB only to the Brewers. The D-Bags have a slight problem walking hitters as the 376 free passes given would rank 11th in MLB.

Now, let’s move on to the more exciting advanced pitching statistics. The .231 average batters hit against the D-bags would be the lowest in MLB, and the 1.19 WHIP the D-Bags pitchers possess would be tied for the best in baseball.

The .284 BABIP against the D-Bags as a team is about average, and the 3.39 team FIP is outstanding. Sorry, but, I could not find team rankings for these stats.

Can the D-Bags play defense? Well, the 75 errors the team has committed in the field (not including pitchers) would rank 7th in baseball. So, apparently douchebags can play defense and pitch too.

Finally, I wanted to use the Pythagorean expectation formula created by sabermetrician Bill James to estimate how many games this D-Bags team should win based on their current performance. One will notice the Pythagorean W-L record on baseballreference.com next to the amount of runs a team has allowed and scored. If one so chooses, one can look at any team’s Pythagorean W-L record in baseball history. The formula has been slightly modified since the formula’s genesis, but here is the formula used today on baseballreference.com. Remember, the answer to the formula will be the team’s should be winning percentage.

The D-Bags have scored 758 runs so far this season, and the pitchers have allowed 539. Yes, that is a +219 run differential, which would be far and away 1st in MLB this season. After I entered in the numbers and worked the formula, I arrived at a .651 overall winning percentage for the D-Bags. When I multiplied the .651 winning percentage times the numbers of games the team should have already played (133) the answer was 86.5.

The D-Bags overall record after 133 games should be 87-46, best in MLB by a substantial margin. The D-Bags are on pace to have a final record of 106-56, 50 games over .500, and only 10 off the regular season win record set by the 2001 Seattle Mariners.

What does all of this mean? Well, for one, the perceived douchebag players fans think are horrendous because they might wear an Ed Hardy shirt to a night club can play the game of baseball very well. Also, if a fan considers a player a douchebag, the player is probably a stud the fan secretly wishes were on his or her favorite team.

I realize the numbers do not factor in team chemistry, and whether or not other teammates loathe any of these players personally, but the numbers do not lie. Most of these players are very solid, and are key contributors who will help teams win.

Yes, I have been guilty of name calling in the past, there is proof out there I have done this. However, I have realized my foolish behavior, and you can too. So, before you claim a player sucks because he is a speed reader, or script writer, remember those things have nothing to do with baseball. While the behavior may be annoying, it has nothing to do with what happens on the field. These players are enjoyable to watch. Learn to look past the off the field behavior and appreciate the talent these players display on the field.